Creeping Death
by Full Metal Douchebag
Summary: Edelgard's nightmares are changing, and she doesn't know why. Or even what they are.
1. Vignette: Panacea

**The following is a non-profit fan production. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is owned by Nintendo, and Hyper Light Drifter is owned by Heart Machine. Please support the official releases.**

**Please enjoy the story.**

**XoXoXoXo**

Edelgard couldn't remember when she started having these nightmares.

Not nightmares in general but the ones she was having now. They started immediately after the experiments. Those ones always went the same: Happy memories quickly ruined by darkness, rats, blood, endless pain, and a horrible, horrible stench, one she couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The princess always woke up with a cold sweat,and would spend the rest of the night clutching her blanket, refusing to go back to sleep.

She still had those nightmares but not as often anymore. It was almost always these new nightmares, much different but just as horrifying.

**XoXoXoXo**

Edelgard was surrounded by nothing. Nothing except the blue sky and the reflective ground. The princess looked down and saw her reflection: Her standard Garreg Mach Officers Academy uniform, red cape and all. In her hand, she held a simple iron ax.

Then, a searing pain shot through her abdomen. She doubled over onto her knees and hands, and vomited a pure black substance onto the ground. The dark liquid quickly started moving around and behind her. The princess slowly looked around to see that the darkness was growing. As its mass increased, limbs began to grow from it, stretching in every direction, and the sky began to darken and the ground turned into a dark red.

Edelgard saw pink lines, one from each side, begin to make their way across the dark being. Eventually, the lines split into two, moving in different directions from each other and the original line. The lines joined together, making the shape of a diamond, with a pink dot formed in the center of it. It seemed to form a face, or an eye, one that was staring straight at the princess.

The many limbs and tendrils of the towering darkness began to move around and towards Edelgard. The imperial princess took notice and grabbed her ax. With one mighty swing, the darkness was bisected but quickly reformed, bigger than it was before.

Edelgard turned and ran away, heart wildly beating in her chest, and the darkness hot on her trail. From her own steps, more of the darkness began to appear, grasping at her retreating form.

One more step, and Edelgard was too slow. The darkness has caught her, it began to swirl around her. The many limbs were grabbing onto her holding her in place. She kicked, punched, and screamed but nothing came to help. A dark tendril came over her mouth, blocking her voice. The darkness was moving all over her, covering her body so that there was none left to see.

The last thing she saw was that one eye moving closer and closer.

**XoXoXoXo**

Edelgard woke with a jolt and a scream, cold sweat pouring down her face. After a few seconds of panting, her hands were moving all around her body, checking to see if the dark being was still there. Seeing that she wasn't held down, she checked her surroundings. One look told her she was in her dorm in the Officers Academy. The princess sighed and fell back onto her bed.

"Another One," she mumbled to herself.

She really should try and go back to sleep, the three houses were meeting the professors tomorrow.

Edelgard closed her eyes, and all she could see was the dark beings bright, soulless eye.

She didn't get anymore sleep that night.

**XoXoXoXo**

**Hello, welcome to my new thing!**

**I recently played Hyper Light Drifter and was blown away by it. The gameplay is fun and challenging, the music is great, the pixel art is beautiful, and the story is very interesting.**

**Seeing the Drifters hallucinations made me think of Edelgard… For some reason. I don't even know how, it just popped into my head and I thought it made sense. I hope it does to you, too.**

**I don't know if I'll continue this but I'll just see how this goes and if I feel like it.**

**Thanks for reading! You're awesome!**


	2. The Jackal

**The following is a non-profit fan production. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is owned by Nintendo, and Hyper Light Drifter is owned by Heart Machine. Please support the official releases.**

**Please enjoy the chapter.**

**XoXoXoXo**

While on a field exercise with some knights and one of the professors, bandits had struck. In the chaos, Edelgard and the two other house leaders were separated from everyone else. Thankfully, they met up with a traveling mercenary company that agreed to help them.

One of the mercenaries, the captains child, Byleth, was rather exceptional. Cutting down foes left and right, dodging and blocking axe swing at just the right moment. All with a blank stare on their face, not an emotion to be seen. They must've had some formal training, Edelgard mused.

The Knights of Seiros had arrived just as the last bandits were fleeing. Thanks to Alois, the imperial princess learned that the captain of the mercenary company was Jeralt, the Blade Breaker. That also meant that Byleth was the child of the legendary knight. Edelgard and the house leaders had managed to talk to the stoic mercenary. The princess brought up their father but Byleth didn't seem to know what she was talking about. Or even when she mentioned the Church. Byleth didn't seem to know about… Anything. It didn't help Edelgard's mind when she noticed that they didn't seem to care all that much about the subject. Or about anything, really.

It was then discovered that the professor they were sent with went missing during the fight. A pity, but she didn't know them well enough to truly be sorry.

The group, now including the mercenaries, had decided to stay the night in a nearby village, as it was very late. Edelgard went to bed that night confused as to how oblivious Byleth was to the outside world.

She didn't dream of anything that night. _Lucky me _she thought the next morning.

**XoXoXoXo**

Throughout that morning, the group of knights and mercenaries walked to Garreg Mach. She and the two house leaders talked to Byleth, giving them basic Monastery information. The mercenary seemed to pay attention but looked so detached from the world, Edelgard wouldn't blame someone for thinking they weren't listening.

**XoXoXoXo**

Edelgard was surprised to learn that Byleth had accepted a teaching position at the Officers Academy, and she was even more surprised to learn that they chose to teach the Black Eagles house. Her house.

The princess questioned the new professor on their decision, to which they replied: "You all seemed to be a bit more… Approachable?"

Ah, so that was the reason. Not their more noble nature, much to Ferdinand's ire, but because it seemed the professor would get along with them better. Even if half of the house, herself included, wasn't exactly normal, neither was Byleth. Edelgard gave a small chuckle, thinking about it later.

**XoXoXoXo**

Her nightmare started out as it usually did but one thing was different.

Edelgard stood, surrounded by clear skies, and a ground that reflected her image like it was water. Beside her sat a jackal with a white halo, bright as a star. The princess moved her hand towards the dog but stopped when a searing pain pierced through her. She doubled over and vomited a familiar darkness onto the ground.

The skies began to filled in by grey clouds as the darkness began to grow and white noise filled her ears. Edelgard's heart was beating wildly, sweat was pouring down her face, and her hands began to feel cold and were shaking. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

But before it could grow any bigger than the princess was on her knees, the jackal jumped between them and began growling at the black monster. The darkness went towards the dog but then it started barking at the monster. Slowly, the darkness receded to nothing, the skies cleared to a light blue, the white noise slowly went away, her heart slowed to normal, and her hands were feeling warm again.

Edelgard opened her eyes to see the jackal licking her face. She gave a small smile and a laugh, petting the friendly dog.

"Thank you," the princess told the dog.

That was the best sleep she had in a long time.

**XoXoXoXo**

**Hello! Welcome back!**

**I have decided to continue this fic after all. I actually thought of a middle and end to all of this, so I think that I can finish this. Just don't expect updates to be consistent.**

**I also think I figured out why I initially thought of this fic. I saw a comment on a HLD YouTube video, for the OST I think, and saw a comment that said that Judgement was all in the Drifter's head. That It was the personification of his fear of death. When I first read that, I thought of Edelgard and her fears.**

**I realize that you could possibly do this fic with Lysithea instead of Edelgard but this seemed more concrete. That it would be much easier to think of a story for Edelgard than Lysithea.**

**Thanks for reading! You're awesome!**


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